Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. chose to accept his entire $750,000 salary in Bitcoin. Then, Bitcoin dipped 44% in value, sinking his once handsome contract to a value of just over $35,000. 
Internet snake oil salesmen have championed Bitcoin as the investment of the future, some even going as far as saying that it could become the new gold standard. The road from unsecured investment to being the security itself is a long and unlikely one.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are an uninsured investment, meaning they aren’t backed by a government and are not insured like cash placed in a bank account. This is an issue for investors looking for long-term security.
At the same time, the prospect of increased government regulation raises issues for cryptocurrencies. 
One of the allures of cryptocurrencies is the idea of being able to trade assets free of regulations. This lack of regulation made pump-and-dump schemes easy to pull off without fear of repercussion. 
Meme coins were the biggest culprit of this deceptive trading practice, in which regular people– and even some influential figures– would promote a coin with the intent to sell at the top and leave naïve investors footing the bill.
The European Union passed the Crypto Travel Rule on June 20, 2021, regulating the movement of some crypto assets and applying a tax on derived earnings that ranges anywhere from zero to 50%.
The Biden administration plans to release an executive order in the near future tasking federal agencies with regulating cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. 
With the U.S. poised to take action, other countries will be inclined to follow suit in fear of falling behind both the U.S. and the E.U. 
With regulation coming and increasing in scope, and most people already aware of the many pitfalls of these investments, cryptocurrency’s decline seems like a more likely reality everyday.
This is not to say that cryptocurrencies will disappear completely in the future. They will have their place in the market, but it will be a diminished position. To say that they will be the new gold standard is a stretch that even Mr. Fantastic could only dream of pulling off.
The shiny novelty of the investment is eroding—be it from volatility, government regulation, awareness of scams or other problems down the road we’ve yet to encounter.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are highly speculative investments and nothing more. The time to get rich off of them has long passed. 
If you were hoping to hit the crypto-cowboy jackpot, you’re going to need a time machine. Bring Beckham Jr. with you.
Frank Kidd is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Springfield.